Name: Erasing Invisibility
Start: 2025-04-15T18:30:00-04:00
End: 2025-04-15T20:00:00-04:00
Location: Head Hi

Erasing Invisibility

New York Review of Architecture

Can buildings promote social change? Improve society? Promote equity? A talk with the authors of the book, “Many Voices”.

Head Hi

Can buildings promote social change? Improve society? Promote social equity?In 2022, Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson, principals at Caples Jefferson Architects, published Many Voices: Architecture for Social Equity to make the case that architecture that reflects its communities can make the world both better and more beautiful. The book assembles the firm‘s own work for underserved communities in New York City, case studies from around the world, and centers interviews with architects and designers such as Sara Zewde, Tatiana Bilbao, and Wanda Dalla Costa.Join Caples, Jefferson, and MASS Design principal Katie Swenson—one of the interviewees—at Head Hi on Tuesday, April 15 to discuss the book and test its thesis. All tickets include admission and free drinks. If you purchase the book (available at checkout) or are a NYRA subscriber, you attend for free. Not yet a subscriber? Become one at <a href="https://nyra.nyc/subscribe" title="https://nyra.nyc/subscribe" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">nyra.nyc/subscribe</a>. About the speakers: Katie Swenson is a Senior Principal at MASS Design Group, where she leads the Advocacy team with Amie Shao. Katie’s work explores how critical design practice can, and should, promote economic and social equity, environmental sustainability, and healthy communities. She has over 20 years of experience in the theoretical and practical applications of design thinking and is a talented global public speaker and thought leader.A prolific writer, Katie authored Design with Love: At Home in America and In Bohemia: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Kindness, both published in August 2020. She co-authored Growing Urban Habitats: Seeking a Housing Development Model with William Morrish and Susanne Schindler. She is a contributing author to Activist Architecture: Philosophy and Practice of Community Design and Expanding Architecture: Design as Activism. Katie was awarded the AIA Award for Excellence in Public Architecture in 2021. Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson are Principals and co-founders of Caples Jefferson Architects. Caples Jefferson’s social equity work has gained national recognition in the US and has been published internationally for its exceptional design qualities. Among its most notable projects are Heritage Health &amp; Housing social services agency, located in a former garage in Harlem; Queens Theatre-in-the-Park, expanding a World’s Fair building into a public theatre; and Weeksville, a new visitor’s building and campus built around a rediscovered freedmen’s preservation site. Sara is a practising architect who has worked on social equity projects for over 30 years. Everardo’s community service has included serving on the boards of social justice and educational institutions, and he is currently acting as a Commissioner of the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission. Everardo and Sara frequently teach as guest educators in schools of architecture, most recently as Davenport Professors at Yale University. Sara is currently Fellow for Innovation in Engagement at Pratt Institute. About the book:Do you know how to create beautiful buildings that truly promote social change?Architects need to understand how to design for social equity, but too often this is presented as a choice between work that does good and work that looks good. When done well, building for social equity can directly enhance the formal, experimental and creative language of architecture.Renowned architects Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson, who have been designing for underserved multi-cultural communities in New York for decades, provide thought leadership that is deeply rooted in practice. By urging architects to approach equity projects with an open mind, the volume highlights the need to dig deep into the diverse culture of local neighbourhoods. It provides techniques to encourage listening, communicating and fully engaging with users, resulting in imaginative design responses that draw on all the tools that the architect possesses.Packed with interviews from established and up-and-coming designers, and highly illustrated case studies from all over the world, this accessibly written book serves both as a point of inspiration and a challenge to Western-centric ways of working. Ultimately, it explores how listening to the aspirations of diverse communities enriches designs and broadens the architectural language of all involved. Featuring:- International case studies from Austria, Brazil, Bolivia, China, Egypt, India, USA and many more- Interviews from leading designers, including: Tatiana Bilbao, Wanda Dalla Costa, Andres Lepik, Xu Tiantian, Li Xiaodong, Sara Zewde- Guidance on a range of topics, from integrating narratives to working with colour, communicating with communities and stakeholders to ethical practice.

About the organizers: New York Review of Architecture reviews architecture in New York.Head Hi is is an organization dedicated to art and design specializing in publications and cultural programming with an espresso bar located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn by the Navy Yard. We feature a curated selection of publications from around the globe. Working with local and international artists, designers, publishers, community members and organizations in various fields, Head Hi is a space for exploration and interaction that hosts talks, book launches, art shows, music performances and other events.

Erasing Invisibility

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